Rats, rats, RATS!!!!

[ktdahlen]

We are in our second year of our 5 hen flock in Seattle. The rats this year are awful! They ate almost my entire vegetable garden. EVIL creatures! Has anyone ever used the Guardian Pest control for rats? I would love to hear what your experience was. It emits sounds that supposedly keeps the evil ones away... Thanks, Katie

 

[Liberator]

I tried the Victor Mini Pestchaser Ultrasonic plug-ins. Plugged in all three at barn. I still have rats as of this morning. I didn't see the rats for about three days after plugging them in but they're back. I can only assume they become accustomed to the sound or they do not work to begin with. Sorry I can't answer your question about the Guardian.

My rats seem to be too smart for snap traps (using peanut butter) and glue traps. The only rat I've caught so far was in the bucket trap I made myself. You may want to try a few home-made bucket traps.

 

[neverbdone]

I fought ground squirrels eating my chicken feed and rats for years. This year DH brought home a barn cat. No more problems.

 

[SheriLee]

We've recently noticed our rat problem. Caught one in a snap trap successfully. That was it. The last few mornings I have noticed that they are digging tunnels into the coop and getting passed the hardware cloth buried in the ground. I read that coyote urine helps to repel them? I'm terrified that if I'm not home in time to close the door on my girls at night that rats are going to get to them. I heard that electric traps work well but not if you have a serious problem as they only catch one at a time.

 

[Folly's place]

Rats are very smart; you may only catch one in any trap, and the rest avoid it forever. My barn cat figured the big rats are my problem, the year they invaded the barn. I caught a few juveniles in a bucket trap over several weeks, and finally resorted to poison. All my critters went into lockdown, I warned the neighbors, and set out bait for about a week. When no more bait was consumed, it was removed, and after another several days, lockdown was over. I never actually saw any dead rats, but no more live sightings or rat poo found. Mary